


With a Kiss, I Die

by LucinaBlade



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Character's Name Spelled as Jaeger, Fluff, I’ll check in on them once in a while maybe, M/M, No Smut, References to Shakespeare, Romance, Romeo and Juliet AU, SLIGHT Historia/Ymir, Some manga canon?, Work In Progress, based on Shakespeare kind of, come on you know the story, i dunno you could call it manga canon, not actually Romeo and Juliet, possible major character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-28 12:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15707403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucinaBlade/pseuds/LucinaBlade
Summary: Levi lives a sheltered, lonely life; lacking love and freedom but filled with every material comfort he could seek. Eren lives a similar life, happy and full of freedom, but lacking someone to ground him. Their families, bitter rivals, remained as such for decades...Until the events of one summer.Or... the Romeo and Juliet AU nobody asked for! This just hit me when I was listening to Check Yes, Juliet by We The Kings, but it is NOT a songfic. This story is a modern (very loose) adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, starring Eren and Levi.*****IF YOU DISLIKE OR ARE OFFENDED BY THE EREN X LEVI SHIP FROM ATTACK ON TITAN, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS WORK. There’s no explicit content and I will be adapting ages in this AU, but the canon basis still stands.*****





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I’m so happy you’ve decided to take a chance on this with me. I just love this idea and can’t wait to see where the story goes, even if my chapters aren’t exactly what you’d call “long.”  
> I don’t know if I’ll be able to pull off an update schedule, but I can promise to try for a chapter every 1-2 weeks. Maybe more if I get them done.   
> Sorry to say so much in intro notes, please feel free to leave comments if you like the story or have any ideas I could use or that you’d like to see.  
> Enjoy!

In the beachside city of Verona, social status was as verifiably important as oxygen, water, food, or other things one could constitute “vital.”

Wealth and expensive things could be thought of as elephants at a circus: commonplace and ordinary. The homes on Sina Avenue were thought of as the elite, or as elite as one could be in an elite city. Sina Avenue was home to the Ackerman family, one of the wealthiest in Verona, and their bitterest rivals.

The Jaeger family remained notorious for infidelity, treachery, and various other sins and acts of debauchery. Their twisted sense of morals came across as deeply offensive to the heavily traditional Ackermans, and had resulted in so many disputes that the families were divided by a metaphorical ocean, unbreachable and well known.

The wrath of the Ackermans was absolute, and the Jaeger bloodline held such a tendency for revenge and grudges that the gap between them remained absolute for decades.

Until, many years after the feud’s ignition, the events of one summer.

 

 

Levi Ackerman lived a lush and beautiful life. The fact was undisputable. His house was arguably the loveliest on Sina Avenue, and his family’s frightening wealth ensured that his every desire was satisfied.

Levi’s life may have been, to many, ideal. He would argue, however, that things had been missing since its start: friendships, honest struggle, and love of any kind.

His parents adored him, of course, from an objective viewpoint. He was a healthy young man, stunning in appearance, and with a quick mind that rivaled his father. He was the ideal son.

Levi hated being ideal.

It intimidated the other students of his school, a private academy in Verona for the children of elites. He had few friends, his strangest being the chemistry teacher.

Erwin Smith had never been intimidated by Levi’s wealth or social status, and even challenged his intelligence in a way that infuriated and excited Levi. After Levi had finished his class, Erwin allowed him to spend his lunch hour in the classroom, often debating the finer points of life in Verona. Their time together was often joined by Hanji, an eccentric girl from Levi’s class. She managed to befriend Levi with her infuriating persistence.

He would never admit it, but he adored Hanji like a sister.

Many of his classmates went so far as to try to forge connections with Levi, but he knew it was his name they wanted affiliation with, not him. They disgusted Levi, and a disgusted Levi was not one to be trifled with.

Levi’s life lacked freedom and emotional comfort, and his days were spent wallowing and in dismal loneliness.

 

On the other side of Sina Avenue, Eren Jaeger lived a life Levi would envy, if he knew Eren existed. Eren’s family loved him deeply, and showed him constantly. Eren would always say he hated the stifling affection from his family, but secretly thrived under their praise and care.

Eren had a large group of friends, mostly due to his excessive charisma and “magnetic aura” as it was occasionally called. They all loved him, truly and deeply, and their bond was that of brotherhood.

His habits of going out, getting blackout drunk at parties, and coming home to his parents was not unnoticed by the residents of Sina Avenue, but no one dared speak their opinions to the Jaeger family. To do so would anger Grisha, the patriarch, and the residents knew from the Ackerman-Jaeger feud that invoking his family’s wrath was a dangerous proposition.

People still whispered behind closed doors, however, and everyone agreed that the Jaeger boy was out of control.

He needed an anchor.

Eren couldn’t agree more.

His wild actions were a cry for help in his eyes, a way of pleading for the universe to send him someone to restrain him, to be the young man he was expected to be.

He hoped for a soulmate, and instead got hangovers. Many hangovers.

Eren’s friends adored him. Jean, Marco, Reiner, Armin, and Bertholdt frequently joined him on his party-crashing campaigns, getting just as blitzed and crazy as Eren himself. Their motivations were different: escaping stress as opposed to Eren’s obsession with escaping reality.

They couldn’t understand Eren’s need to run wild, but they ran by his side all the same.

 

On a seemingly ordinary Friday, not the sort of day one would expect anything groundbreaking to happen, Reiner came to his friends with news.

“The Ackerman family is having a party,” he stated, “and you know what we do to these big events, gentlemen!”

Jean nodded his assent, a grin creeping over his face.

“We haven’t had the opportunity to get into one of theirs before. This should be fun,” he added, his bleached hair grazing his forehead as he nodded.

The rest of the gang quickly piled on the bandwagon, until only Eren remained. His friends stared at him, shit-eating grins broad on their faces as they waited for his answer.

Eren sighed.

“You know, they say you gotta do something crazy before you die.”

Reiner’s face sobered.

“You do crazy every night. We’re gonna get fucking wild. It’s gonna be some jungle shit going on.”

At that, Eren smiled, his green eyes blazing.

“Let’s fucking do it then. I’m in.”

 

Eren arrived home to a swift hug from his mother, her eyes sparkling when she saw her son.

“Hello, darling,” she said, smiling at Eren, “how was your day?”

Eren shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

“Nothing special, mom. Nothing you wouldn’t expect.”

His mother smiled again, nodding.

“Darling, it’s your last few weeks of school. I couldn’t be more pleased with you. So I’m going to tell you this now,” she said, pausing to goad Eren’s curiosity.

“What’s going on, mom? Please don’t tell me you’re divorcing dad.”

She laughed.

“No, son. Actually, we’re going away on a trip for the summer. To Italy, darling! Oh, I’m so excited. We didn’t want to bring you along since you’d be bored to tears and because you’re eighteen now. You can handle yourself here alone.”

Eren grinned, laughing exuberantly at her words.

“Really? You mean it? I get to stay here by myself?”

His mother nodded, her smile matching her son’s.

Eren whooped, hugged his mother tightly, and vaulted up the stairs.

At six, he walked downstairs; his brown hair styled effortlessly into a confident mess on his head, brown leather jacket worn over his favorite white shirt. His jeans and tough black boots completed his “asshole-chic” look, a term coined by a drunk girl at one of his first parties.

It stuck with him.

He bid his mother farewell, shutting the door on the way out. Eren’s friends were waiting down the perfectly manicured street, their faces splitting into smiles as he approached.

“The Prince of Sina finally returns,” Reiner stated, looking Eren over.

“Looking good, man,” Jean stated, nodding his head approvingly.

They swaggered their way down the street to the Ackerman estate, a stunning house in a neighborhood of stunning houses. The crown jewel of Sina Avenue, it was called. Sounds of commotion and laughter echoed from the backyard, and the boys instantly knew they were in the right place.

They hopped the fence, which had become child’s play to them after breaking into countless other events, and assimilated into the massive crowd of partygoers in the yard.

Eren stumbled across the drinks first, and happily grabbed the first bottle of hard liquor he saw. A hand appeared out of nowhere before he could take a swig, however, and snatched the bottle from his hand.

“Hey, who the fuck do you think you are?”

Eren turned to face the bottle thief, only to be met by terrifyingly cold eyes in a shade of silver so sharp Eren could swear he was literally staring daggers.

“I am the heir to this estate, you shitty brat. I should be asking who the fuck you are and what you’re doing at my engagement party.”

Eren felt the blood drain from his face.

“You’re… an Ackerman?”

“Didn’t I just say that? I am Levi, and I am the heir to the Ackerman estate. I won’t ask again, who the fuck are you, and what are you doing at my party?”


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! If you’re reading this, thanks for sticking around. With this chapter, I hope to introduce a couple dynamics in our lovely relationship (we’re all here for the relationship). I promise it’s gonna get good and then REALLY angsty. Without further ado, chapter 2. Hey, that rhymed! I didn’t plan that.

Eren’s mouth gaped at the boy standing before him. He had known where he was, but had no intentions of running into the elusive heir of the Ackerman estate. In truth, the whispers about the son of Mr. Ackerman were almost as prevalent as the whispers of the Jaeger-Ackerman feud. Few knew Levi, and even fewer had the pleasure of knowing his company frequently.

Eren had heard that Levi was bitter and cruel, a boy with no love to give in his cold, dead heart. Some people whispered that Levi’s heart might be the only one in the world to beat for nothing.

And yet, here he was, standing in front of Eren. Having basically announced his engagement to the boy. Eren, being the eighteen year old he was, felt objectively horrified at the idea of a boy his age being engaged.

He took a deep breath to collect himself.

“I’m surprised I’m not on your fancy little guest list. I am, after all, heir to one of the more promising families on the Avenue.”

Levi’s breath caught in his throat, and his eyes widened near-imperceptively.

“A Jaeger? Is that what you are?”

Eren sensed the thinly veiled disgust in Levi’s voice, and decided it would be highly amusing to provoke the other boy.

He grinned broadly, spreading his arms wide.

“But of course. You thought you could avoid me forever, did you? So sorry to disappoint the little prince.”

Levi snarled, jabbing a finger into Eren’s exposed chest.

“Don’t you dare make fucking jokes about my stature. I don’t give a damn, you ignorant brat, because I have heard every possible insult you can think of.”

Eren’s grin widened further.

“Hobbit? Midget? Small fry? Should I keep going?”

Levi’s face bordered on full fury.

“I suggest you choose your next words wisely, brat. What the hell are you doing in my backyard?”

Eren’s face sobered, and he leaned close to Levi. Eren could hear Levi’s breaths as he whispered his next words.

“I’m here for the refreshments and for the trouble I can cause. It would cause quite the scandal if you were to kick out a guest, no? You can’t do anything about me being here, and you know it.”

Levi made a sound of frustration deep in his throat.

“Fine. You’ve caught me. And that’s the last time you’ll ever hear me say it. You can stay, brat, but cause any more trouble and I won’t hesitate to throw you out of here on your ass.”

“So glad to know you’re already thinking about my ass, Ackerman.”

With that, Eren swaggered away, only pausing to throw an exaggerated wink over his shoulder to a completely infuriated Levi.

He breathed a sigh of relief once he was out of sight, and sagged into a chair on the elegantly groomed lawn. By now, he thought, his parents would be boarding a plane for their summer vacation. He was alone.

He couldn’t tell how long it had been, perhaps minutes, perhaps hours, before a disgruntled Levi sat primly across from him. Levi bristled, then forced himself to take a breath.

“Look, I’m sorry for how I acted. I should be making you feel welcome in my home, even if you are the unsavory sort.”

Eren grunted.

“Don’t apologize. It was kind of hot to see you get all irritated. Besides, I’m trespassing. You have every right to knock me out of here on my ass. Although it would be a shame. I’m told my ass is magnificent, and it would be such a shame to put a bruise on perfection.”

Levi snorted, an inelegant laugh. The sound made Eren smile.

“It is my right, but I’m supposed to be celebrating. This engagement is hugely prosperous for my family. I should be proud that I’m doing a great service to my name and my family.”

Eren leaned closer, setting his chin in his hand as his elbow rested on the glass tabletop. The iron scrollwork chair creaked as he shifted.

“I can tell you aren’t happy. I hope it’s not too bold of me to say.”

Levi sighed.

“Is it that obvious? The Reiss family is incredibly wealthy and their daughter is stunningly beautiful, I’m told. I should be considering myself lucky to marry such a lovely girl,” he started, “but her heart lies elsewhere. I have been corresponding with her in secret, and she loves another. I’ll never be someone she deserves, and I’m not… properly equipped to satisfy her in a relationship.”

Eren gasped quietly, his green eyes widening.

“Your fiancée is gay?”

Levi nodded shortly.

“She is. She confessed to me that she loved a girl from the other side of the city, a poor girl from the slums. It’s beautifully tragic and all. Even for me, since I’m doomed to spend my life in a loveless marriage. I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”

Eren shrugged awkwardly.

“I’m here. You need to let it all out. You may never see me again after tonight, why not entrust your secrets to a perfect stranger?”

At that, Levi slumped back into his chair.

“I suppose. Would it be tragically ironic if I was just like her?”

Eren laughed out loud, falling back into his chair. His back hit the scrollwork on the back of his chair.

“I can not believe this. Two gay people being forced into a depressing union for money?”

Levi nodded, his face grave.

“I wish it wasn’t true. I wish I could be someone who could at least try for her, but here I am. I won’t ever love her, and she won’t ever love me. It’s not a stretch to call it doom. You must be lucky, Jaeger- “

“Eren. My name is Eren. You can use it, you know.”

Levi sighed, mildly annoyed at the interruption.

“You must be lucky, Eren, to not have these problems. You should marry her, at the very least you wouldn’t be disappointed with her.”

Eren snickered.

“I can’t believe you just made such a blatant assumption of my sexual orientation, you ass. I’ll have you know that I am incredibly gay. Did you not hear me calling you hot earlier?”

Levi blushed slightly, his cheeks dusted lightly with pink.

“I did. I just thought you were trying to annoy me.”

“I was, but I meant it.”

Eren leaned forward again, looking at Levi through his eyelashes.

“You’re quite attractive to me, Mr. Ackerman.”

Eren stood, dusting his shirt off before leaving. He turned back a final time.

“I’ll find you at lunch sometime, Levi. I’m sure I could interest you for a while.”

Eren walked away, and Levi sat in his chair.

Nobody had ever so obviously flirted with him, especially after an altercation. Levi was confused, yet when he reached up to touch his face it was hot. He was sure that it was bright red, evidence of his interactions written plainly across his pale face.

Nevertheless, he half-hoped the mysterious Eren Jaeger would make good on his promise.

 

He didn’t have to wait long to see, since during Monday’s lunch Eren waltzed over and sat beside Levi. It was unusual for Levi to be in the cafeteria at all, and he was sure that Erwin and Hanji were worrying about him by now.

Eren smiled over at his companion.

“Good to see you again,” he practically purred.

Levi nodded, focused completely on the lunch his chef threw together. He loved getting soups, but today it felt lackluster and boring.

“What do you have there? Soup? Who has time to make soup?”

Levi looked up at Eren, meeting his green eyes.

“My chef. My chef has time to make soup.”

Eren nodded.

“Makes sense. You must be wondering why I actually bothered to make good on my promise. He has so many friends? Why would he sit with boring old me?”

Eren paused, allowing himself a moment to take in Levi’s irritated expression.

“Horrible imitation of my voice, brat.”

“Anyway, I figured you needed an actual friend. Someone you can… directly relate to. I mean, you live down the street from me. You can come bother me whenever you want to cry it out and complain about your gay girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend. I’ve literally never met her. We’ve been over this.”

Eren chuckled.

“Okay, fine. Fiancée. But I’m being serious. I don’t really know you, and our families hate each other, but I’ll be here for you. Don’t ask me why I’m doing this for you, since you did threaten me with bodily harm. I just feel like it, and since summer is coming soon I need something to do.”

“So nice to know I’m your pity project.”

“Only for you, darling.”

Eren got up, nodded a goodbye, and walked away.

Levi watched him walking away, becoming more confused.

It was going to be a long summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading chapter 2! I hope to release a third chapter by next week. Please feel free to leave comments and kudos, and thanks to those who have already left kudos! I love y’all. See you in the next chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter 1 is done! This is my first work on AO3, and I’m so happy you all are taking the plunge with me.   
> If you liked this chapter, please feel free to leave kudos, comment, or whatever else you feel like. If there’s something you really want to see, comment! I’ll gladly take any suggestions into consideration.   
> Chapter 2 will be coming whenever I get it done, I promise. Thank you for reading!


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